Sending videos and images
We ask that you send videos of your animal to us before your consultation, as well as any time you’d like clarification on whether you and your animal are carrying out a technique correctly.
Videos provide invaluable insight — they allow our clinical animal behaviourists and canine trainer to observe your animal’s body language, environment, and interactions in real time. This helps us give you more accurate, tailored guidance and ensures that our recommendations fit both your animal’s needs and your home setup.
We do not need to see any unwanted behaviour — please don’t create or encourage a stressful or risky situation to obtain a video. If you already have footage showing the behaviour of concern, that can be helpful. Otherwise, only record such behaviour if it occurs naturally and it’s safe to do so. Videos showing your animal’s everyday behaviour — relaxing, playing, walking, or interacting with you and others — are extremely valuable and help us understand their normal routines and emotional state.
What to capture
Please send recordings of your animal (max 2 minutes each) plus a video of your home and a floorplan:
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- Capture your animal resting in their usual spots (e.g., bed, sofa, crate).
- Try to show their comfort level and any typical calm behaviours.
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- Film your animal on a walk, in the garden, or any outdoor area they use.
- Show how they behave outside — sniffing, exploring, interacting with their environment.
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- Record them playing with toys, or interacting with people or other pets.
- Focus on body language and how they engage with others.
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- Capture clear footage of your animal walking naturally, ideally from the side and behind.
- Make sure the ground surface is visible.
- This helps assess mobility and movement patterns
- Find out more...
Give a short guided tour (1–2 minutes) of your home. Try to include:
- Areas the animal has access to (indoors and outdoors).
- Spaces they spend most time in.
- Resource areas — e.g., feeding station, water bowl, litter tray, sleeping area, toys, scratching post, etc.
- Aim for a steady, slow pan to help the viewer understand layout and accessibility.
- Draw a simple sketch of your home layout.
- Label key rooms and areas where your animal spends time.
- Highlight resource areas (feeding, resting, toileting, play zones).
- A hand-drawn photo or digital sketch is fine — clarity matters more than perfection.
Sending the Files
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- Include your surname and pet name so we can identify your animal
- Send the files a minimum of 2 working days before your consultation so the team get a chance to review them.
- maximum duration of 2 minutes per video
- gif, jpg, png and mp4 formats accepted
- maximum 2MB per image
- WhatsApp to: +44 7877 319 545
- an online service for sending files such as WeTransfer.com
- a link to your Google Drive
Don't worry - the videos don't need to be perfect.
Recording Gait Analysis
Research has proven that pain can be linked to an animal's behavioural issues. However, unless you're a professional (and even then), it can be difficult to identify whether our animals are experiencing pain.
Our trained clinical animal behavourists are able to identify more subtle signs of pain in your animal. Pain could be associated with movement and in these cases, video footage of your animal’s relaxed movement can be extremely helpful for detecting and monitoring changes throughout treatment. These videos can be shared with us and your referring vet to help us help your animal.
This video by the University of Lincoln provides practical tips on how to record your animal's gait.
Please be aware
With your permission, we would love to have the right to use suitable photos and videos of your animal that you send to us in our printed and online publicity and possibly to be used as examples in case studies for educational purposes. If you do not grant us this permission, please make that clear when sending the images or write and tell us at info@donovanvetbehaviour.com.
